baywatch Christmas
by EastYorkDisneyFan
Summary: Hobie has some time off at Christmas and spend it with his Mom, Half Brother and Sister and Step Dad.
1. Chapter 1

Hobie Buchannan was sitting at a table in Baywatch headquarters with his right leg elevated as he had injured his knee a couple of days ago and the doctor he had seen at the hospital had said it didn't look like he had done too much damage to it and would not need to have surgery if he rested it for a bit. So because of that he was on light duty which meant everything from going through rescue cards and filing them to answering 911 calls as the various lifeguard headquters assisted with 911 calls in addition to the calls from the towers and the boats. It was stuff that every lifeguard hated as it meant that you were stuck inside well everyone else was on a rescue.

Anyway well Hobie was stuck there one afternoon; he got called into the chief's office.

Newmie said to him "Hob there's a some changes coming from county that all unused vacation days have to be used by the end of the year and can't be banked for future use. Unfortunately your one of the ones that seems to be affected by this the most and since you're on light duty right now, you might as well use them now."

Hobie looked at him and said "so you're making me take more vacation time because I'm hurt?"

Newmie looked at him and said "no not at all, look I know you've already booked time off over Christmas to visit with your Mom and her family, what's an extra week or two? "

Hobie looked at him again and said "it's still paid right?"

Newmie replied "yes but two of them will be at 50% of your regular pay. Which I know you may not like too much, but we are all having to take some time off at reduced pay. It's either that or we get rid of some full time guards."

Hobie said "hey a small pay cut during my vacation time vs. having to do extra work, because of cuts to staff."

Newmie smiled at him and said "I figured you would see it that way, besides you need a break anyway. How's the knee by the way?"

Hobie massaged his knee as he said "its feeling better the doctor says it's a grade 2 tear of my ACL and not torn completely so I won't need surgery but he wants' me to have another MRI in a couple of weeks. Which means I guess I need to get in touch with him and see if he has a college or someone in Toronto, where my mom and step dad live?"

Newmie then said "why don't you take the rest of the day off to do that then."

Hobie then got up as he said "yeah maybe that would be a good idea, I'll give him a call. So when do I have to start my extra vacation days. "

Newmie looked up and said "how about now."

Hobie looked up at the clock since it was almost time for dinner anyway he figured that leaving now wouldn't be too bad. As soon as he left the office he changed out of his uniform and back into his street clothes. On his way out he gave his orthopaedist a call and left him a message about traveling and finding out if he could get an appointment for an MRI in Toronto, as that was where his mom and her family were living now after his step dad had gotten transferred there for work. After that he called his Dad to say he'd be home early and that he was possibly going to be leaving a few weeks earlier then he'd planed.

The next Day Hobie got a phone call from his orthopedist telling him that there wouldn't be a problem arranging with a hospital in Toronto as he had done his residency their and still knew some people there. He also told Hobie that he should be fine to travel and gave him the name of an orthopedist in Toronto just in case he needed some more pain meds or he reinjured his knee. He also asked Hobie if he could come in to get fitted for a knee brace that he would need to wear for the next couple of months.

Hobie pulled up to the hospital and limped into the building after parking in the visitor's parking lot. He walked up to the admissions desk and told them that he had an appointment, with Doctor Michaels in orthopedics. They took down his information before directing him to the office that the doctor was in.

Once Hobie arrived at his office he knocked on the door and the receptionist asked him to come in. Hobie walked in and talked to the receptionist who told him to have seat well she called the doctor.

Doctor Michaels opened his door and called Hobie in and asked him to have a seat, and said "since you will be wearing a knee brace for a couple of months and you are a life guard I've found one that should be good for your active lifestyle. It's been designed to be used in water sports as well as other activities well being light weight and provide the support you knee needs to heal. Also your insurance company is willing to pay about 90% of the cost on it. You guys must have a great health care plan for something like that"

Hobie nodded at that and said "yup we've got a sweet medical plan with the county; it's all part of the job. We have the same sort of deal as the fire department which were technically part of since we do dangerous work, it's not exactly easy running into the ocean to rescue someone from a rip current or being caught under a pier."

After having his knee brace fitted on to him, Hobie was both surprised at how light weight it was and at the movement it still gave him. Dr Michaels told him that he should wear it as much as possible when he was awake. He was allowed to take it off well showering and sleeping, anything else he needed to have it on.

After his appointment Hobie headed back home to start packing and to see what his flight options were and also to talk to his mom about the Change in plans and also tell her about his knee. Well Hobie was on the phone with her she told him that his half brother who was now 14 was excited to see his big brother again and she also told him that his now 4 year old half sister was also excited about meeting her big brother for the first time, and already had lots of questions for him. Hobie laughed at that and asked "what kind of questions does she have, so I can be prepared for them?"

Gale laughed at that as well and said "just ones like what's it like to be a life guard and she also want to know if you still keep sand in your shoes? I'm kind of curious about that too."

Hobie laughed at that again and said "when I wear them yes, except for dress shoes as I wear socks with those. Its funny how many people at work know that about me, even without ever being told it by me, it seems to be some sort of legend around here, that I do that, I actually got asked by one of the women rookies about that this summer."

Well she was talking to him she was also changing his flight information for him as she had booked it for him originally. She also talked to him about her secret plans for a trip to Walt Disney World and the cruise she had booked them on. She reminded Hobie that he needed to pack a suit for formal night, to which Hobie said "I'm doing one better on that I'm going to bring my dress uniform instead."

Gail replied back with "and I bet you look just as handsome as your father in it."

Hobie then said "so are you keeping it as surprise from Mikey and Sarah?"

She replied back to him "yes and just so you know he hates being called Miey now, he likes to be called Mike now"

Hobie laughed at that and said "that's good to know at least Jeff didn't talk you into naming him after a surfboard."

She laughed at that as well and said "once was enough, besides I thought you like that your name was different."

He replied back "yup it's just sometimes it gets a little old explaining it to people."

She replied back "so any way I have to go as Mike will be home from school soon and I don't want him to know I've been talking to you, but I'll see you in a couple of days at the airport."

Hobie said goodbye to his mom and hung up his cell before going to his room to begin packing his stuff. As he was packing Hobie thought about how the last time he had seen his little brother he was 10 years old and now he was 14, which meant he hadn't seen him in 4 years or his mom for that matter. A lot of things had changed he'd broken up with Summer as they realised the age deference between them was to great, he was now dating a new girlfriend who kind of started stocking him a little bit over the summer. It wasn't in a crazy sort of way more that she would sit by his tower off and on. After seeing her there a few times he asked her if she came there often and what she was doing beside his tower. She was a little bit shy about it at first and said that she had seen him at a distance at first; she also told him that she used to admire him in high school but she was to shy then as well. She then told him that she was really geeky back in high school and didn't think he would have gone out with her then. She also told him that her name was Alexis, the next day Hobie brought in one of his high school yearbooks as he wanted her to show him who she was. She showed him her picture in the year book which was about 3 pages away from Hobie's, she commented that she liked his hair spiked better then when he wore it long. As Hobie was packing to head to Toronto Canada she was packing to head to Colorado where her family was from.

Hobie carefully packed his dress uniform in a garment bag along with a couple of polo shirts and a pair of khaki pants, he also packed his dress shoes and socks in there too. His shield he would keep in his carryon bag as that was something he really didn't want to lose.

Next he packed a suitcase with some of his regular clothes; he put in a couple of pairs of shorts for well in Florida and well on the cruise, he also packed some t shirts and some hoodies and jeans. He also packed his winter jacket that he wore when he went snowboarding with his friends up in the mountains as he know it would be cold in Toronto. He also packed a couple of pairs of board shorts for going swimming, well he was packing he got a text from his mom that said "no dirty laundry this time", Hobie laughed at that as he remembered 5 years ago in 2007 when he had made a trip out to see his mom and brother before they went on a Trans Atlantic cruise, he had been called in to work an emergency 24 hour shift and hadn't had time to do laundry before packing so he came with a suitcase full of dirty clothes, which really pissed off at that, Hobie texted her back, "ha ha very funny, packed clean stuff this time."

As he was thinking of that he then remembered back to the first time his brother had been out to California it was in March of 2008 his mom had brought him out there for his schools spring break. He remembered hearing a couple of familiar voices approaching from behind his tower. The first voice said "now just so you know Mikey the water in the ocean can be more dangerous than the water in a lake or a pool. Do you see this tower here that's where the lifeguards work out of, if you need them that's where they will be, any questions?"

Mikey responded with "yeah where do you think Hobie is today?"

Without warning Hobie said to them "right here Mom and Mikey."

He took a quick look at the water and the beach in front of him before walking down the ramp towards them first he gave his mom a hug then he gave his 9 year old brother a hug too, and then said to him "want to see the inside of a lifeguard tower?"

Mikey turned to his mom and said "Mom can I?"

Their Mom smiled and said "of course just don't get in Hobie's way ok"

Hobie smiled back and said "don't worry he won't", he said this as he lead him up the ramp well Gale spread out a beach blanket just to the side of the tower. The first thing Hobie showed him was the first aid kit they had in there, he also showed him the binoculars they had i the tower and said that you could see all the way down the beach to the main headquarters if you focus them right. Mikey then asked him why the phone had no buttons on it. Hobie explained to him that it was made so calls had to go through the switch board in the various headquarters. Just as he was about to explain to him about the rescue can Hobie caught something out of the corner of his eye and took the phone of the hook and said to Mikey "stay with mom ok I've got to go save someone." He quickly took off his shirts and sunglasses well he grabbed his rescue can and ran out into the surf. Luckily the person was ok and had only been knocked down by a wave and didn't need any further medical attention. Hobie did bring him up to the tower though to take down some info for the rescue card, just to document everything. After he was finished he looked around for his sunglasses and saw Mikey was holding them for him. As he put them back on he thanked him. A little while later when Hobie got a break from another life guard they headed out for lunch and then when they came back Hobie still had a little time left in his break so he took his brother out into the ocean for a little bit. Gail sat on the beach and got a couple of pictures of her two boys together on the beach. Later that afternoon when they had to leave to head back to their hotel for the night Gail went back over to Hobie and said "sorry for surprising you like that but it was a bit of a last minute trip out here."

Hobie responded to her without taking his eyes off the water in front of him "don't worry it was fun, so what are your plans for tomorrow, I'm off but Dad's working?"

Mikey replied back in a really excited voice and said "Disneyland "and then said "Mom can Hobie come with us too?" She said yes and Hobie arranged to meet them at their hotel the next morning.

The next day Hobie drove up in his Jeep to pick them up Mikey instead in going in the front next to Hobie. Once they got there Gail was already to pay for the parking when Hobie pulled out his Annual Pass and showed it to them so he could park for free. They had a great time that day going on all the rides in Disneyland that day and even planed to come back later in the week when Hobie had another day off to go to Disney's California Adventure park.

Hobie then turned his thoughts back to packing once he was finished he heard his dad, Mitch, come in come in with eth groceries and went down to help him with them. Mitch saw the knee brace and asked him how his knee was and Hobie explained to him everything that the doctor had said. He also told him that he was taking some more time off and was going to be flying out on Friday instead of two weeks from then like he had originally planed.


	2. Chapter 2

As the week went on Hobie finished his packing, made sure he had his passport, drivers licence, and health insurance information. He also made sure his credit card company and cell phone provider knew that he would be away and where he was, he also added international roaming to his cell phone to cover him for well he was away.

It was now Thursday afternoon and Hobie was packing up his carryon bag he put in a couple of extra t shirts, some long sleeved T's and some extra underwear just in case his luggage got lost on the way. He also packed up his camera and spare batteries and charger for it. Well he was packing he went through the packing list that his mom had sent him some of the things on it he knew he wouldn't be following to the letter for example his mom wanted him to pack sunscreen with a higher SPF then he normally used every day. He wondered if she had forgotten that he lived in California and worked on the beach for 8 hours a day 5 days a week. Then again most people didn't exactly understand why he became a life guard or why he continued being one. Part of it was because in the beginning it meant he could still be in the band he helped start in high school another part of it was he enjoyed it; it also meant he could be in his favorite place every day the beach.

As he was packing he pulled out his phone and sent a text to his mom asking if he really needed a winter jacket and if he could just get by with his fleece lined jacket and a hoodie instead. His mom texted back that the weather was a bit milder then she had thought when she made the list and said that if he needed one she probably could get one he could borrow. Hobie decided at that point to just pack his fleece lined jacket in his carryon bag, and he took his snowboarding jacket out of his luggage which actually cut down on some of the weight in it.

Hobie also checked into his flights online as he would be taking two flights to get to Toronto from L.A. The first part of the trip would be from LAX to Calgary, Alberta and then onto to Toronto from there. This also meant he would have to go through Canadian customs in Calgary.

The next morning he was up early as his first flight was living around 8:00 local time, his dad had nicely volunteered to give him a ride to the airport which was only about a 20 – 25 minute drive from their house in Santa Monica.

* Bay Watch *

Meanwhile in Toronto Gail was getting everything ready for Hobie to arrive she put clean sheets on the extra bed in Mikes room, as it mainly got used a couch when his friends came over to play video games. Mike was a little suspicious about this but his mom did change the sheets on it every now and then any way so he thought nothing of it. Later on Friday when Mike got home from school his mom told him they were going to head out to the airport to pick someone up. Mike smiled and said "Is Hobie coming tonight?"

Gale smile back at him and said "maybe."

Later that night after Dinner which Gale had saved some for Hobie, just in case he was hungry when he got in, then they left to go out to the airport. When they, arrived at the airport they parked the car and headed to terminal 3 where Hobie's flight would be landing. They waited about 20 minutes when Mike spotted him and pointed him out to his sister Sarah, he was actually pretty easy to spot as he was the only person coming off a flight from Calgary to Toronto that had a Tan and a T shirt on, his hoodie was lying over his carryon bag as was his jacket. He was also caring his garment bag and his suitcase behind him, and he also had a lap top bag slung over his other shoulder too.

Hobie saw them and walked over to them and gave his mom a big hug before turning to Mike who even at 14 wasn't too cool to hug his older brother. Mike then introduced him to his sister Sarah who also gave him a big hug. Hobie also looked over at Mike and noticed that he had also gotten a haircut since he had last seen a picture of him he now had his hair cut short with spikes in it just like He did. He smiled at him and said "Nice spikes dude."

Mike smiled and said "yeah they are cool aren't they."

Mike then asked if he could help carry anything. Hobie said "cha you can take my carryon bag for me, but first I need to find a restroom."

His Mom pointed to where one was well he left his stuff with them. Once he was finished he grabbed his hoodie and jacket and put them on before grabbing his luggage. Mike took his gym bag he had used for a carryon and his Mom grabbed his laptop bag. Well Hobie shouldered his garment bag and pulled his suitcase behind him, his other free hand was being held by Sarah. Gale then led them out to the car, on the way out Sarah asked him if he had sand in his shoes right now. Hobie laughed and said "Not right now it's too cold for me to be bare foot in my shoes, so I've got socks on right now and sand just makes a mess of them." She seemed a little disappointed by that as did Mike, Gale on the other hand was glad that she wouldn't have to worry about sand being dumped on the ground onside the house. As they made their way outside Hobie felt a little cold, but then again he had been in California only this morning.

Mike asked him if he was cold and Hobie just said back "nah bro, just a little chilly and hungry, I haven't eaten since I was in Calgary."

His Mom then said "don't worry I saved you some food from dinner then. So how was Calgary did you have any problems with customs at all?"

Hobie smiled and said "thanks for saving me some food and as for customs the guy I had jokingly hassled me about being a life guard until I showed him my badge."

Sarah then said "you have a badge, like a police officer does?"

Hobie then turned to her and said "Cha it says on it Los Angeles County Fire Department, Life Guard Specialist."

Sarah then said "you talk funny sometimes like Crush in Nemo."

Hobie laughed at that as they git to the car and said "nah I just talk like a surfer sometimes, cuse that's what I do when I'm off work. As to crush he was based off of surfer talk." He then loaded his stuff in the truck before taking the front seat in the car.

On their way to the house Mike and Sarah had more questions for Hobie; some of them were about Life Guarding while others were about him and California in general. Mike asked him why his badge said fire department on it when he pulled it out to show them. He said "because the La County Life Guards are a division of the Los Angeles County fire department, we use their shield on our badge but have Life Guard or Life Guard Specialist on them, instead of fire fighter."

Mike then asked what the difference between Life Guard and Life Guard Specialist were; Hobie then explained that being a Life Guard Specialist meant that he also had paramedic training in addition to his regular life guard training. Mike then asked him if he had ever driven an ambulance to which Hobie responded "yup, I've got an emergency vehicle drivers certificate to drive ambulances, life guard trucks and the call cars, which are pretty much just a pickup truck with the same supplies that a regular ambulance has on them except there 4 wheel drive for use on the beach."

Sarah then asked him "is it hard driving on the beach?"

Hobie replied back "a little bit as you have to be careful with the people around you and also even when you have the lights and sirens on people still don't always get out of the way. The hardest part is watching out for people lying on beach towels, but I've never hit anyone or run anyone over."

Mike then asked "what kind of cars are they?"

Hobie answered "about four years ago Ford gave us a deal on some modified Hybrid pickup trucks. So we actually use way less gas them we used to and most of the time unless were speeding to a rescue then the gasoline engine kicks in, but most of the time we just cost around under electric power."

Mike said "wow that's cool so are they four wheel drive like the old ones."

Hobie replied "cha, you can't drive on a beach without it. The great thing about them is actually helping protect the environment that we work in everyday."

Sarah then tried to ask what a Hybrid was. Hobie then told her that it was a car that had two engines in it one that burned Gas like a regular car and one that uses only electricity that the cars stores in batteries to run at low speeds.

Once they arrived Home Gail told mike to take Hobie up to his room where he would be staying. Hobie asked Mike what he felt about it, he just said he was fine with it and would rather share his room with Hobie then his sister any day.

When Hobie came down his mom had a plate of food for him sitting on the table that she had warmed up for him.

Later that night when Hobie and Mike were heading up to Mike's bedroom to change for bed, Mike asked Hobie why he had come early. Hobie said "there's a couple of reason the first one is because I had some vacation days I had to use before the year ended, because of a change in rules from county regarding banking vacation days, and I had to many of them," he said this as he was taking his shirt , "and also because of this."

He said the last part as he was taking his jeans off. Mike looked over at him and asked "What did you do to your knee?"

Hobie said to him as he was taking it off "I wiped out skateboarding and slightly tore my ACL and I have to wear this knee brace for the next couple of months, and I was on light duty for the last week because of it."

Mike asked "what's that like."

Hobie replied "hell, it's mostly answering 911 calls, calls from lifeguard towers and doing paper work. The stuff no one really wants to do but it has to be done."

"Man that must suck," Mike replied.

Hobie replied "yup, especially because the switchboard is so old we can barley find parts for it anymore. Apparently were getting it and our phone system/ radio all upgraded sometime in the New Year. So when did you start spiking your hair?"

Mike said "man that sounds crappy about the switchboard; I hope you guys get a new one then. As for my hair a couple of months ago one of my friends stared doing it and I thought it looked cool, plus my older brother does it and he's the coolest person I know."

Hobie laughed at last part and said "so what makes me cooler than your friends?"

Mike replied "The fact that you live in California, have a tan all year and save people's lives for a job, plus you surf and skateboard what's cooler than that?"

Hobie then said "well when you put it that way I guess I am pretty cool."

Mike then asked "I've always wondered do you have any cool nicknames people call you?"

Hobie shock his head and said "nah, most people usually just call me Hob for short, sometimes when my friends are joking around with me they call me 'beach boy' but that's more of a joke about my job than anything. "

"So why is calling you a beach boy a joke about your job?"

"It's because I work on the beach and most people think all we do all day is flirt with girls, run into the water every now and then, well we work on our tans all day."

Mike then said "that's dumb, I remember the day Mum and I came to the beach and sat beside your tower, even though I was asking you lots of questions you still were watching a lot of people out in the water and on the beach. "

Hobie then said "yeah that was a fun day, what else do you remember from it?"

Mike said "I remember when you were explaining about the phone when you saw something and took it off the hook, grabbed your can well taking your shirt off and said 'stay with mum' all well not even taking your eyes off of someone who was in the water. That was so cool watching you bring that person in when they fell in the water. I also remember you telling someone to not take an inner tube in the water; I don't think I asked you about that."

Hobie replied "that's cool you remember that, as for the inner tube thing people aren't allowed to take them in the water as they can be tossed out of them easily and get tangled up in them and it makes rescuing them harder. Also it's easier to prevent having to rescue someone then actually having to do it."

Mike then said "I guess that makes sense, I also remember at one point you walked down the ramp raised your can in the air and put into in the ground at the edge of the ramp and said to mum and me that you were going to work out or something like that. "

Hobie replied "yeah during an 8 hour shift we get an hour to work out well in the tower. Holding up the can and planting it in the ground is our sign to the other guards around us that were going for a swim, and not on a rescue."

Well they were talking they got into their beds for the night, Hobie also took off his watch and knee brace before getting into bed. Mike saw his watch and asked him about it. Hobie smiled and said "you think its cool then?"

Mike replied "yeah"

Hobie then said "it is pretty cool, its waterproof too, so I and wear it at work every day. Mom and dad gave it to me for my 18th birthday and also as a graduation present. I think mom just forwarded some money to dad and said to pick out one he'll like and wear. "

Then Hobie yawned and said "night Mikey, I'll see you in the morning."

Mike thought about correcting him about his name but instead just said "night beach boy."

Hobie mumbled "don't ever call me that Mike."


End file.
